I find it really amusing that The Waters Family, who I created to be a simple side distraction while I worked, has not only turned into the most interesting family I have, but is making my other families, the ones I created to play properly seem.... well, boring. I've been playing "The Banks" family the past few nights (Melani) and have found them mundane, easy and, really boring!

One of the kids had a birthday, woop dee do! Of course, my own daughter is fast approaching her second birthday, but that will only make her two. In the sims however, a third birthday makes you a 'child' and looks to be around the age of about seven instead of three... Baby Ricky as I think he will always be affectionately known, had his third birthday and aged into, well, a bit of a nerdy child - he wears a tie!

I did get a bit worried when I saw him eating his birthday cake. The position of his wrist just doesn't look normal! So far that seems to be the only anomaly I've seen, so I'll just put it down to him getting used to his larger body.

Apart from that though, the party went without a hitch and nothing even remotely interesting happened.

*sigh*

The same day as the party Melani got another promotion. I've already mentioned how she's a "super sim" and all that, so it was no surprise. I didn't realise it was the max level of the medical career promotion though - it was so easy to get there. It's still impressive to see her as a World Renowned Surgeon given she's never had a day of medical training in her life. She was in the Police Force prior to being poached over to the hospital from her forensic science expertise.

Sorry, but being able to examine dead guys doesn't exactly qualify you to work on the living. Still, I can't argue with her income. $631 an hour? Yes please!

Then again, the new work outfit raised an eyebrow for me. I get the white coat... I don't get it needing to be buttoned up to her chin, but I get it. The Dr. Evil gloves and boots however make me a tad concerned...

Unfortunately, an odd outfit and a dislocated wrist doesn't really qualify as excitement or even that interesting anymore. I've experienced the thrills of watching my sims being electrocuted or time-warped with their age. I've danced with the grim-reaper, thrown funerals and quit my job out of utter trauma.

Rubber gloves? Please. I need more than that now...

One thing did cause me to sit up last night though. It seems I went a bit 'building crazy' after Ricky's birthday party. I expanded the upstairs area to include a new bedroom for him and decided to add the bathroom and living area while I was up there. The next morning however, I didn't have enough money left to pay the maid who had to come and clean up all the mess.

And we'd been messy too I tell you. I let everyone go nuts and there were plates and spoiled food all over the place. I understand being a tad ticked off at not being able to be paid after having to work that hard, but they should also know I'm good for it. I've been using the service for a while now.

Unfortunately, loyalty is not a word that the maid service seems to know too well. In order to pay for the cleaning job just completed, the maid was going to help himself to some of my possessions. Fine, I'll cop that.

But what does this low life take? Remembering there is an entire house full of items he could choose from, this scum bag goes upstairs and takes this....

That's right, the KID'S BLOCK TABLE! I'm sorry, I don't care how much money someone owes you, when you're in a house of someone who is clearly doing ok with her life, don't go and help yourself to a child's possession. That's beyond low!

For the first time in the past 2 days of checking on Melani and household, I got angry. Not impressed with that! Grrrr lol

When I decided to send the family to a community lot last night, I decided to send the entire family. Even Grandma Audrey got to get out of the house for a few hours, something she very rarely does due to my neglect (really, it's her own fault for being such a good babysitter hehe). This was my first time sending more than two sims out somewhere. So far, the biggest trips have been Audrey taking Seth to the book store to read him some books when he was a toddler.

But now, I got to figure out how to send a whole family out! Previously, trips to the book store were organised by Grandma Audrey picking up Seth, and then heading on down. If I didn't pick him up first, the trip was nothing more than wasted cab fare. To send out multiple Sims however, is quite easy.

For those like me who sometimes forget there is more to the Sims 3 than your own house lot, all you need to do is open up your map, select the community lot you wish to visit and select to "visit with..." When you do this, a window pops up and you simply left click on any of the family members you wish to head there with. For me, I selected everyone and off we went!

For some odd reason, Melani still has the Police car she acquired before changing careers. I would give it back, but I don't have enough money to purchase another car, and a family with children simply can not be without a car. Not even in everything's perfect Simland. I tried selling it to fund a new car, because I did kinda feel bad riding around in a marked cop car when I wasn't in fact a cop anymore, but you can't sell it. You get offered $0.

So anyway, after selecting the lot, Melani pulled out her squad car... from her inventory, damn she must have big pockets. And muscles to make superman wince. She loaded Seth into the passenger seat which I was surprised at given his age - in Australia it's illegal to have a child under 12 in the front of the car. After staring for a few minutes, I noticed we were still sitting there. What was going on?

Grandma Audrey had, thankfully, picked up Ricky (clearly Melani is a wonderful mother...), but she was stuck in the Nursery. Just standing there. I noticed in between the "get in the car" and "move" actions, there was an icon to put a toy away. I cancelled than and she got moving again. Sometimes the elderly just need a good shove right? (oooh, so wrong)

It was then that I noticed cancelling the action left the toy still in Audrey's hands.

I actually thought it was kinda cool that she could carry Ricky and still hold a toy. I don't know how many times I've scooped up my own toddler and her teddy, and her blanket, and bottle, and slippers and book and a mini play cow. LOL us mum's are very clever.

I also discovered why Seth was in the front seat too. When Grandma Audrey got into the backseat holding Ricky, it kinda made sense. Obviously a toddler sitting on an adults lap and a child couldn't all fit in the back seat (yeah right), but SOMEONE had to hold Ricky since EA don't offer baby seats in car. Which really, would be the safest thing to do. But then again, this is Simland, and I've yet to see or hear about a car crash yet.

Third cake lucky and Ricky finall ages up!! I decided to have this cake outside just incase it decided to try and burn the house down again. Thankfully everything went according to plan, although I can't figure out why, so far, both times it's been Ricky's cake, Grandma has been holding him! At first Hal was holding him, and when I tried to take Ricky then, somehow Grandma ended up with him! I was going to try and take him again but didn't want to stuff up the birthday aging so just let it go. Although I was not happy about it!!

But I made up for it with big cuddles and a toss in the air afterwards.

Not the cutest toddler I've seen, but perhaps that just means he's got more hope to be a better looking kid. After all, look what happened to Seth and he was a cute toddler. Has Hal's hair which almost makes him a little odd to look at hehe. But I'm glad, it means both brothers will be slightly different.

Although check this out, he looks a bit evil... !!

As mentioned in my previous post, it was time to age the kids up and move them onto the next level. Baby Ricky's cake hadn't worked the first time, so I binned it not wanting to risk a double ageing glitch and got a new cake. I clicked on it and selected Ricky to be the one to blow the candles. After a few confused seconds of not actually being able to find Ricky, I realised Grandma was holding him so panned across to the kitchen to watch the fun.